[Congressional Record Volume 157, Number 105 (Thursday, July 14, 2011)]
[House]
[Pages H5026-H5027]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                              {time}  1040
                             THE UNEMPLOYED

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from New 
York (Mr. Rangel) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. RANGEL. Mr. Speaker, my colleagues, as we have the opportunity to 
debate whether or not our brave young men and women are fighting in 
wars in foreign lands that have not been approved by the Congress, as 
we talk in terms of trillions of dollars as to the national debt that 
we have acquired and think of ways that we can reduce it, and as we 
look at our revenue code and recognize that it is just so totally 
unfair and should be reformed and revamped, millions of people have 
awakened this morning unable to really consider these important issues 
because they are without work. Millions of people have lost their self-
esteem, have lost their jobs, and some have lost their health 
insurance. Many have lost theirs homes, others have pulled their kids 
out of college, cars have been lost for inability to pay, and creditors 
have been just nightmares to them.
  Included in this vast amount of people are African Americans, many 
who have served this country, hardworking people that find themselves 
not at the 9.2 so-called unemployment rate but at a 16 percent 
unemployment rate. And this doesn't take into account the millions of 
people, and especially African Americans, that know that there are no 
jobs for them. And to be going to the unemployment office just to be 
counted among the faceless unemployed doesn't make sense.
  Included among them are veterans that have fought for this country. 
Some have come home with physical and mental problems, but they have 
not received the support or the transitional aid that's necessary for 
them to assimilate in a work market that has no jobs. So many of these 
people have worked in local establishments, in our butcher shops, our 
cleaners and our shoe repair, and they are without work. So many of 
them are women that have toiled and raised their families without the 
assistance of anyone else, and they too are without work and without 
hope.
  As we think about these people and think about reduction of our 
spending, we find that Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security seems to 
be constantly referred to as entitlements, and people talk about that 
it has to be protected. So many mayors and Governors are talking about 
how they too have to cut their budgets. And so many African Americans, 
for reasons that I do not have to go into, have sought public service 
as a way of life because of the security that's involved in it. And so 
when we talk about cutting the budget and cutting the services that are 
provided, we're talking about a larger number of minorities that will 
be losing their jobs as a result of budget cutting, whether we're 
talking about teachers or policemen or clerks that work in the city 
halls or the communities that have Governors that have slashed back 
their jobs, but certainly as we talk about Medicaid and Medicare, we're 
talking about hospitals. And all of you know, no matter where you come 
from, that you see a large number of African Americans working

[[Page H5027]]

in these institutions trying to get an education to move forward 
because we know of the large number of health care providers that we 
need.
  We are proud in the city of New York to say that we have been able to 
train and educate a larger percentage of physicians than all of the 
teaching hospitals that we have throughout our great country, and we're 
proud to do that. All of a sudden, we hear that some $300 billion will 
be cut from the hospitals that provide this care. And it's not just by 
the beneficiaries that you and I know they need this care and they will 
be put in harm's way, but also we have to acknowledge that many of the 
people that work in these hospitals, a large number of them being 
minorities, they too will be released to join the unemployed.
  So while I'm praying for our spiritual leaders to protect the 
vulnerable, please understand that every time we make a cut in the 
budget, we're cutting someone's job, and they will join the hopeless 
and the unemployed.

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